The presidential legacy of George W. Bush's father was that he didn't finish the job in Iraq – leaving the job for Americans to finish at a higher cost and creating another decade of misery for the people of that country.
Likewise, if this President Bush doesn't kill or capture Osama bin Laden before he leaves office in 2009, his legacy, too, will be tarnished.
In fact, if the United States doesn't kill or capture bin Laden before the 2008 presidential campaign, it will reflect badly on Bush's Republican successor.
No matter what we achieve in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other front in this war on jihadist terrorism, unless we get bin Laden, we will never have closure over the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The longer it takes, the more we risk.
Bin Laden is a symbol out there – a dangerous living symbol. As long as he is alive on this planet, he represents the personification of anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism. He is a rallying point for millions of radical Islamists who want nothing more out of life on this earth than to stick it to us – to kill and maim as many Americans as possible.
Now there is no question that President Bush's predecessor in the White House missed many golden opportunities to spare us the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, by taking out bin Laden. Time after time, the 9-11 commission report shows, the decision never even made it to Bill Clinton's desk. The decisions not to attack and kill bin Laden were made by National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, a man now facing a likely indictment for stealing national security secrets from the National Archives.
Nevertheless, Bush will hardly have Clinton to blame if he doesn't get bin Laden after eight years of trying.
It's time to refocus our efforts on eliminating this human plague from the planet.
It's time to redouble our efforts to find him and smoke him.
It's time to pull out all the stops – and if that means attacking him in Pakistan or Iran or any other nation, we do it. If we have to use bunker-buster bombs or tactical nuclear weapons, we do it. If we have to redeploy armed forces from elsewhere on the globe, we do it.
It's time to use all our great technology and all our great manpower and American ingenuity to do something that will make America's day.
I'm surprised no one else is saying this.
It's been too long.
This is becoming something of a national embarrassment. Bush is very fortunate his political opposition wasn't able to capitalize on this failure to get bin Laden in 2004. If he cares about his country, his party, justice and winning this titanic global conflict with pure, unadulterated evil, he's got to finish the little matter of bin Laden.
Americans don't want him dying of natural causes in some cave.
They don't want to see any more videos and they don't want to hear any more audio tapes.
The longer bin Laden eludes capture or death, the more his legacy as the man who declared war on America grows.
This is not just war, it's personal.
It doesn't matter if we get all his lieutenants. That would be wonderful, but it's not the same as getting bin Laden. It doesn't matter if we destroy his ability to attack America again in the way he did in 2001. That would be wonderful, but it's not the same as getting bin Laden. It doesn't matter if bin Laden is forced to live underground and on the run. That would be wonderful, but it's not the same as seeing his carcass on a slab.
I know there are many other threats in the world than the monster known as bin Laden. I know the conflict is not over the day bin Laden assumes room temperature. I know this is about much more than one man.
Nevertheless, we need to get serious about getting bin Laden, getting him now and getting him dead.